Eric Archer has been faculty at The Omega Institute, The Finger Lakes School of Massage, The Millbrook School, has been a Senior Jamtse Yin Yoga teacher, and co-produced the community-driven series Everyday Expert. Eric is also a naturalist and outdoor enthusiast who includes the visceral, universal experiences of immersing and communing with Nature into his teachings. Simple, spontaneous, vital. Through embodied expressions of nature, knowledge, devotion, he teaches from his own experience and shares stories and group inquiry with joy, leading groups and hosting classes and workshops around the United States and Europe. His approaches to teaching are driven by group discussion, critical pedagogy, and a practical and holistic approach to learning and being. Below are a list of basic areas of teaching -- please check the calendar to see upcoming events or workshops, or reach out for individual opportunities.
Meditation - Meditation is not about control. Meditation is fundamentally explored through being with, and looking deeply into everything exactly as it is now. Through a fusion of Zen sitting practice with more modern mindfulness practice, techniques are explored, and time allows for deeper understanding. This approach to meditation is relevant to beginners and advanced practitioners alike. It never goes out of style, and is the heart of the meditative consciousness. Deeper exploration of visualization, mantra, movement, and subtle energy also develop as one becomes more comfortable and familiar with the practice(s). Eric also focuses on the arts practices of music, visual art, poetry, and storytelling as themselves meditation practices. These understandings and experience with meditation are indeed infused into everything else that is offered.
Music - Eric teaches music, whether on specific instruments, music theory, or group practice and improvisation. Furthermore, the focus which links music practice with meditation are emphasized as one begins to play music in earnest -- for in fact very similar mental and physical barriers present themselves when one whole-heartedly pursues a music or meditation practice.
Yoga - The traditions of Yoga are vast and ancient. Eric is blessed to have studied with many great teachers (Biff Mithoefer, Prema Mayi, Mark Whitwell, Govind Radhakrishna, David Life and Sharon Gannon, Glenn Black, Daniel Orlansky) each offering their unique experience and blending of life and practice. Through this personal journey of practice and healing Eric has continued to teach yoga (asana) classes which synthesize physical practices with breath, body, heart, and awareness. His classes are focused on the foundations of awareness, while seeing the physical practices of yoga as fundamentally based on exploring the body as a tool for awakening; working skillfully within gravity, and breathing with presence and reverence.
Yin Yoga - Yin Yoga is a synthesis of ancient Yogic philosophy and practice with Taoist Philosophy. Through long held postures on the ground, Yin Yoga cultivates a simple and profound body meditation focused on the connective tissue and the emotional/energetic aspects of the body. Yin Yoga is much more similar to sitting meditation than traditional Hatha Yoga, and thus allows for deep meditation and awareness that are unique to its introspective and insightful approach. Through the combination of Yin postures, poetry, sound, storytelling, anatomy, and understanding of deep personal archetypes, Eric teaches others how to deeply undertake the path of Yin Yoga and share it with others in a way that has true heart and meaning in their own lives.
Mindfulness - The simple yet profound practices of mindfulness have become popular in the west for a myriad of reasons, yet the true essence of mindfulness is to live in the present moment. Through simple and gentle techniques that cultivate awareness and invite savoring of presence, Eric shares the core understandings of mindfulness practice, as well as its ancient Buddhist foundations, and its modern understandings within the Scientific and Evolutionary Psychology fields. Among many teachers of mindfulness, Eric has had the great pleasure to live, study, and practice at Plum Village in the Dordogne with Thich Nhat Hahn and his monastic community.